Why configuration?

The vision behind Xledger is to simplify business management and reduce complexity by providing a standardized (out-of-the-box) solution that is built aroundbest-practices. At Xledger we do not believe in customization (writing code specifically for one customer), as this has traditionally been a tremendous cost-driver for implementation of ERP systems – and thus is contrary to emerging best-practices. Instead Xledger is highly configurable to meet each customer’s needs. There are 14 different dimensions that are customer definable that give additional reporting and data element capabilities.

This shift in paradigm allows companies to address their specific needs with configuration, rather than costly customization (writing new code). While customization was common in many of the traditional on-premise legacy systems, some ERP “suite” vendors have brought the practice of customization to the cloud, and is promoting it as a benefit. However, while customization might sound like a good idea, it is a tremendous cost-driver for both the customer and the vendor.

Customization makes future upgrades cost- prohibitive due to their complexity and the resource requirements, and can be put off for months or even years. Because customization changes the underlying application, it can even break a customer’s ability to upgrade to a future version. Consequently, customers endure the risk of being isolated on old releases. The burden and cost of recoding, testing, and transitioning customizations from version to version lies with the customer. On the vendor side, it drives product/service cost up unnecessarily.

With few exceptions, customers are better off with an out-of-the-box solution that can be configured to specific needs without writing new code. By supporting configuration, this type of solution allows customers to tailor business processes to meet their individual needs, but they do so without compromising the upgrade path. Configurations are captured separately from the application capabilities, so on-going updates can occur without endangering customer-centric configurations.

True SaaS vendors allow companies to address their specific needs with configuration rather than costly customization. In fact, configuration is emerging as a best-practice – and many companies we talk to explicitly states that they don’t want any customization. By supporting configuration, SaaS solutions (such as Xledger) allow customers to tailor business processes to meet their individual needs, but they do so without compromising the upgrade path. Truly multi-tenant SaaS solutions are designed to be configurable and therefore easily upgradable, which provides a significant cost-savings factor when comparing SaaS to on-premise or fake SaaS solutions. Configurations are captured separately from the application capabilities, so on-going updates can occur without endangering customer configurations. Configuration capabilities are built into the system and tested regularly, and the SaaS vendor will often guarantee configuration options will work through any and every update.

If there is any particular functionality that the customer needs that is currently not provided in the system, we will evaluate whether those capabilities will benefit other customers. If that is the case, we will consider developing those capabilities at no extra costs to the customer.

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